4 February 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;” Luke 6:37
Peter's second letter closes with a word about time. Christians were asking why the Lord delayed his coming. Peter answers: “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.” Every day God waits is a day of mercy, given so that more may repent. He warns that some twist the hard things in Paul's letters “to their own destruction”, and he ends with a simple programme: “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” In the Gospel Jesus asks us to treat others as God treats us: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.” Then comes the picture that makes us smile and then makes us blush: “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” The patience God shows us is the measure of the patience we owe to others. Only the one who has first removed his own log can help a brother with his speck.
Today the Church honours St John de Britto, a Portuguese Jesuit martyred in Tamil Nadu. Born in Lisbon in 1647 and brought up at the royal court, he left everything to serve in the Madurai mission. There he lived as an Indian ascetic, a pandaraswami, in saffron dress, eating simple vegetarian food, speaking Tamil, so that the people knew him as Arul Anandar. He lived Paul's words in the saint's readings: “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.” He was arrested, tortured and expelled, went back to Portugal, refused the comfortable life offered to him there, and returned to the Marava country. When a local prince, Thadiya Thevar, was baptized and kept only one wife as the Gospel requires, the family of a dismissed wife complained to the ruler, and the missionary was condemned. He was beheaded at Oriyur on 4 February 1693, and Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1947. He had heard the Lord's warning: “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.” He judged no one; he gave himself, good measure, running over.
Theme: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
God's patience, the log in our own eye, and the martyr who became all things to all people.
“Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.” Sirach 28:2
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;” Luke 6:37
Apply: Forgive one person today, in your heart and, if possible, in words.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23–24
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.” Luke 6:42
Apply: Make a careful examination of conscience tonight before you sleep.
“I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6
“To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22
Apply: Learn a greeting or a prayer in the language of a neighbour or co-worker.
God's patience with us is the measure of our patience with others.
Take out your own log, and love others as the saints did, in good measure.
Take-home resolution: Go one day this week without criticizing anyone, and pray for missionaries.
Dear friends, Peter tells us: regard the patience of our Lord as salvation (2 Peter 3:15). Every day that God waits is a day of mercy, given so that we may grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
Jesus asks us to show others the same patience: do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37). The measure we give is the measure we get back.
Then he gives us a picture: someone with a log in his own eye trying to take a speck out of his neighbour's eye. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly.
St John de Britto left the royal court of Portugal to live like a poor Tamil ascetic. He became all things to all people, and in 1693 he gave his life at Oriyur. May we, too, judge less, love more, and give ourselves in good measure. Amen.
Children, Jesus told a funny story about a man with a big log in his eye who wanted to take a tiny speck from his friend's eye! Let us look at our own faults first, and be kind to others.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are patient with us, not wanting any to perish. Free us from judging and condemning, teach us to forgive and to give in good measure, take the log out of our own eyes, and through the prayers of St John de Britto make us all things to all people, so that we may win some for you. Amen.
Both readings ask us to look at time and at other people as God does. Second Peter answers those who complain that the Lord is slow: his delay is mercy, “the patience of our Lord as salvation”. In the Gospel Jesus asks us to give others the same patience: do not judge, forgive, give, and look first at the log in your own eye. The Church also remembers St John de Britto, who gave his life on Indian soil.
Setting.
These are the last lines of the letter. It bears the name of Simon Peter (1:1). Many scholars think that it is among the latest writings of the New Testament, composed by someone in Peter’s tradition, who speaks in his name; others hold to more direct links with the apostle. The Church receives it as Scripture.
The letter answers scoffers who were asking, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (3:4). Its reply is that God’s time is not ours, and that he is patient, “not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (3:9). Our reading draws the conclusion for daily life.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.” (3:15)
We would like the wrong put right at once. The letter reads the delay another way: the time we complain about is also the time in which we ourselves have room to repent.
“There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.” (3:16)
Difficult is not the same as closed. The warning is against bending the text to suit oneself. This is why the Church reads Scripture within the living Tradition (Dei Verbum 10, 12).
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (3:18)
The letter ends with a command that keeps the reader moving. The opposite of being carried away (v. 17) is growing. Grace and knowledge go together.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this letter’s words about God’s patience when it teaches that God predestines no one to hell, and that the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (CCC 1037, citing 2 Peter 3:9). The Second Vatican Council teaches that the task of authentically interpreting the word of God has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church, which serves the word and does not stand above it (Dei Verbum 10; CCC 85–86).
Setting.
This is part of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain (6:17–49), which has much in common with Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has just taught love of enemies, ending with the words, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (6:36). Today’s reading shows what that mercy looks like when we deal with those around us.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;” (6:37)
Two prohibitions, then two positive commands: “Forgive” and, in v. 38, “give”. The passive verbs quietly name God as the one who judges and forgives.
“for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (6:38)
We set the scale ourselves. God’s generosity far outruns ours, as the overflowing lap shows, but a closed hand cannot receive.
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (6:41)
The fault of another is easy to see because it is the size of a speck, and my own is hard to see because it is too close to me.
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (6:42)
Jesus does not say the speck should stay. He says “first”. A person who has faced his own sin can help a brother gently. Hypokritēs was the Greek word for a stage actor.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism warns against rash judgment, which assumes a neighbor’s moral fault without sufficient foundation (CCC 2477), and quotes St Ignatius of Loyola: every good Christian should be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it (CCC 2478). St Augustine sees in the speck and the log the difference between anger, which can pass, and hatred, which has grown old in the heart (in substance).
If I must not judge, may I never say that something is wrong?
Jesus is not forbidding us to tell right from wrong; he expects the speck to be removed. The Catechism gives the distinction: we can judge that an act is in itself gravely wrong, but we must entrust the judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God (CCC 1861). We can name a sin without passing sentence on a soul.
St John de Britto (1647–1693), born in Lisbon and brought up at the royal court, gave up that life to serve as a Jesuit in the Madurai mission. He lived as a simple Indian ascetic, a pandaraswami, spoke Tamil, and was known to the people as Arul Anandar. Expelled once and invited to stay in Portugal, he came back. He was beheaded at Oriyur in the Marava country on 4 February 1693, and Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1947. The Madurai mission lies not far from our own land. His life gives flesh to today’s Gospel: he gave a good measure, pressed down and running over. Those who suffer for the faith in many lands today are in our prayer, with all who have wronged them.